I think the issue here is that US officials automatically feel that a person from a country with a worse standard of living than the US will want to remain in America to escape their poor standard of living. China may be a rising power, but there are still many Chinese who are not as well off as most Americans. OTOH, Canadians and Brits and Japanese, from countries with standards of living comparable to the US, will most likely not have that problem. I don’t know if what even sven said about consular officials being responsible for the people whose visas they approve is true or not, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it was.
I mean, how come it’s so easy for a Canadian to come to America but not a Mexican?
Oh, I overlooked this line. China Guy, are you saying that if she gets rejected for a visa now, she will probably never be able to get another tourist visa? What about a fiancee visa? Is she better off not trying? That’s terrible.
Oh, and should she do her interview in Chinese, or English?
Well, that shouldn’t be a problem. Her mother has to be in China to run the business, plus she’s got a 14 year old son. Her daughter is going along to translate and getting the American experience to help her English a bit for her import/export job in China, hmmm, that sounds good. The nice thing about this particular story is, no lies. I’ll check about the tours.
What things would be good for her to see and mention in the interview she wants to see in America? Las Vegas, Disneyland… hmmm, any ideas?
I think it’s fine to get approved and then not use it. My personal experience is with people who got turned down once. It’s on the visa application in black and white, eg “have you ever been turned down for a US visa?”
I am no expert. I did however talk with a US embassy official in Shanghai maybe 6-7 years ago after my MIL got turned down for a visa. In hindsight it was obvious she didn’t play to the “got so much vested in China there is no way I would stay in the US.” Now that we are moving back to the US, she’s going to reapply in the not too distant future and I’m guessing will be turned down. But at least I know how she should pitch the trip.
I’m saying definately don’t mess around with a fiancee visa unless you’re going to get married. I strongly suspect she would not be allowed to get 2 fiancee visas. And if you get married in China, I think you have to do the whole immigration process thing, which can take 6-12 months. I did this with my wife 15 years ago in HK so I’m neither current nor an expert.
Applying at 21 and single I hope would not be held against her at 30 and working for a multinational company, or for a fiance visa with the intention of getting married. Again, I don’t know.
I work for an American Fortune 50 company and our employees have no trouble getting a work sponsored visa to attend training and global events. Actually, it’s a big recruiting and retention draw as most take the opportunity to travel in the US around their events.
feel free to IM me if you have anything specific. Again, I’m no expert but I have dealt with the bureaucrats here in Shanghai in the past.
The Japanese have been mentioned a couple of times in this thread. Isn’t it true that Japanese don’t need visas to visit the US? They just show up and enter? I think Japan, Singapore and Israel are the Big Three Asian countries that are admitted to the US visa-free.
Everything that has been said in this thread applies to Thais as well. Just about everywhere over here. The US Embassy in Bangkok must get at least 1000 applications a day – when they’re not closed due to rioting – and Thais must show compelling reasons to return. Single females are viewed with extra suspicion.
And if the visa application has been rejected, I believe that gets stamped in the passport and goes in that person’s record. Makes it extremely tough for future applications. Surely it’s the same in Beijing.
The website for the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok lists 3450 baht for Americans. That’s US$107 at today’s rate. (Only 1000 baht for Thais.) Did it go up in recent years? The wife thinks I paid about $50 three years ago, too.
I have never heard of anyone (Singaporeans, that is) have problems going to US, be it for holidays, visits, study or tours, so I guess Singapore is in the list. I was about to start a GQ thead on why it is so hard to get an American visa.
Andorra Hungary New Zealand
Australia Iceland Norway
Austria Ireland Portugal
Belgium Italy San Marino
Brunei Japan Singapore
Czech Republic Latvia Slovakia
Denmark Liechtenstein Slovenia
Estonia Lithuania South Korea
Finland Luxembourg Spain
France Malta Sweden
Germany Monaco Switzerland
Greece The Netherlands United Kingdom
Citizens and permanent residents of Canada (and Bermuda) do not require a visa for tourist travel to the U.S. Mexican citizens and permanent residents require a visa like most other countries, although there is a Border Crossing Card specific to Mexico that streamlines the process for frequent visitors (B1/B2 visa qualification is required in any case).
ñañi, I don’t have much to offer except to echo the advice upthread that your girlfriend present a compelling case as to why she will return to China. From the D.o.S. website:
I have seen even Canadian citizens run into snags under these circumstances, so good documentation is a must. God luck to you – hope it works out.
Ah, so Israel is not a Big Three, but South Korea is. Japan, Singapore and South Korea.
I feel for the OP’s girlfriend, but I have to say I do understand why it is so hard to get in. There are many Thais who are trying to get in and work illegally, and it’s damned hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.
And they believe that every single country has a worse standard of living (you know, dem Swedes and their lack of freedom, stuff like that). The way the visa waiver is currently set up, for example, makes it more of a “visa lite” than an actual waiver, as you need to apply anyway and provide everything short of an affidavit promising your firstborn’s kidneys in payment.
Nani - your girlfriend and mother might want to go through a travel agency to help with the visa stuff. Not sure how much help they will be but at least the agency should know many of the minefields to avoid and things to never ever say.
Thank you for your help, everyone. I am very grateful!
And yet, in a disheartening turn of events, it seems that for some reason the embassy offered my girlfriend an appointment of very late august for her interview. This is quite unacceptable to her, however, we have apparently found a company, www.mcdvisa.com, that has told her they can get her an earlier appointment, as well as help her prepare for the interview. They seem to be a help agency for Chinese seeking visas.
I talked to them, and though I had to switch between Chinese and English more often than I would have liked, they seemed legitimate. They don’t want any money from my girlfriend until after they get her an earlier appointment; they said that I can confirm the validity of the new appointment with the embassy, they are not promising to guarantee her the visa or anything, just the appointment and to offer her help preparing for the interview. I am very skeptical of how they plan to get the earlier appointment, from what i understood, they keep calling the embassy looking for cancellations and swooping down on them, but who knows.
I checked the US Embassy website, they warn against fraudsters claiming to guarantee a visa or to expedite the processing of a visa, but from what I can see this company is not promising that.
Thanks to my time living in and laboring for a Chinese factory, I am really wary of being cheated by Chinese businesses (who knew there were Xinjiang Uighur gangs in Guangzhou?), or there being trouble with the embassy. But I can’t find any information about this. What do you all think? How can I find out if a Chinese business is fraudulent?
China Guy: Thanks so much for all your help. Can I trouble you with the name of a Chinese travel agency? All of the ones I’ve been able to find seem to be geared towards foreigners going into China, not the other way around.
Ironically, I am planning to eventually join the State Department someday, and perhaps work in an embassy. I used to joke to people that my job would involve rejecting visa applications all day…
You indicated that your girlfriends family have a successful business in China and she worked for her family’s business. Could they make the trip to the US, a business trip, instead of a tourism trip? Their purpose could be looking for distributors in the US or some other legitimate business purpose.
suggesting that you conceal the true reason for a trip in a made-up reason probably isn’t the best of advice, wouldn’t you agree? This is to say nothing of whether it would work, because I’m pretty sure that it’s been tried before.
Well, the point is, those don’t have to be mutually exclusive. For a domestic example, my company needed to send someone from my team to a training class for a vendor’s product, to be held at the vendor’s training facility outside Atlanta. The facility, as it happens, was just a few miles from my sister’s house; so I was very happy to volunteer to be the trainee. Even saved my company money by staying in her guest room instead of at a hotel.
If his girlfriend’s family has business interests in the U.S., then there must be needs for someone to make that trip overseas to help oversee those interests. Quite a sacrifice for someone to be that far away from home for that long–unless they have other interests taking them that direction. That wouldn’t (necessarily) make the business trip a sham. I certainly did learn the vendor’s system that I was sent to learn, even if I had some fun getting to know my nieces and nephew while I was out there as well. And eating my sister’s cooking instead of fast food. Etc.
I paid only about 50 bucks American for my last Chinese visa three years ago.